The next composition to come out of this fiber stash is from the Viola Tricolor family, a Heartsease flower (a.k.a. Johnny-Jump-Up), inspired by a sketch in Kristin’s sketch pad.
Hand-dyed *Heartsease
Playmate to “What if?” is “Why not?” While not botanically accurate color-wise, it was fun to break the the rules and work large scale too. Also, we figured after featuring an article about a sunflower that wished to turn red, we might as well continue with another red flower (the “tricolor” part of the name usually is purple, violet and pale yellow). Remember, when designing, you are also creating the rules as you go along.
Fiber that went into the Heartsease. Ready for the next stage . . .
A light carding was just the thing to let those fibers draw out! Here, arranged by colors.
Trying out another way to arrange the colors in the skein (works well in small spaces and with minimal equipment). Perhaps this will lead to a series of wool omlettes, burritos, or Dagwood Sandwich!
After arranging the fiber colors in rows and layers, a wooden dowel helps to roll everything in a tidy cylinder.
The next step is to patiently draw out the roll of fibers into a progressively thinner and longer bundle, this stage is called “pre-drafting”.
Gently rolling the pre-drafted fibers into a ball keeps everything from drifting apart and keeps it in handy proximity for spinning. Plus, it is fun!
Finally! Time to spin!
Yarn spun into a “single”.
Yarn doubled back on itself and respun into a plied yarn.
Ta-Dah!
Final product is a skein as cheerful as a Heartsease!
*Silk dyes work great on wool!